U.S.S. Cyclops – It’s Time for Answers

“Until the mysterious disappearance of the Cyclops set the nation astir, only a few people knew of the existence of colliers.  Their value has been deplorably under-estimated.  Practically unarmed, slow of speed and offering a large target for the enemy “the coal wagons of the sea” make every port on the globe.  For the fires on a battleship must never die.” – Navy Life Magazine [1]

The collier U.S.S. Cyclops was lost at sea during World War One.   The ship was headed to Baltimore, Maryland with a massive cargo of war materiel.  She never arrived at her destination.

The U.S.S. Cyclops was designed to perform a critical task during peacetime and in war.   Ships of the United States Navy required fuel.  Rear Admiral Mahan, a naval strategist and historian clearly addressed the necessity for ships such as the Cyclops: “If ammunition is lacking you can run; if food is lacking you can subsist on half rations and still fight, but if fuel is lacking, you can neither fight nor run.” 

The Cyclops was more than capable of meeting that requirement.  She was a collier; a ship that carried coal to fuel our fleet.  She was much more than that.  The ship was designed to also carry fuel oil.   She helped the navy in the transition from coal to oil-powered ships.  The Cyclops was capable of coaling at anchor or underway.

At 542 feet in length with a top speed of 14.61 knots, the Cyclops was among the largest and fastest Navy ships in service.  She was constructed at the William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Co. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  The ship was launched on May 07, 1910.  On November 07, 1910 the Collier Cyclops was placed in service at the Navy Yard, Norfolk, Virginia.  At that time, she was manned by a civilian crew; men of the U.S. Naval Auxiliary Service (NAS).

The collier had a massive cargo capacity.  The Cyclops could carry a maximum of 499,450 cubic feet of cargo coal, plus 97,590 cubic feet of bunker coal; a total capacity of 597,040 cubic feet or 12,500.84 tons of coaI.  If her dual-use holds were used for fuel oil, she could carry a maximum of 874,700 gallons.  In 1911, the trade journal, International Marine Engineering labeled her as “The Largest Naval Collier in the World”.

The USS Cyclops (in the background) transferring bags of coal to the USS South Carolina in 1914. The round-the-clock fueling and supply work of the USS Cyclops was “grueling and dangerous as was the routine operation of the coal-power Cyclops. “ (US Naval History and Heritage Command photo)

Beginning in 1910, the collier Cyclops fueled ships of the fleet, large and small.  A battleship would typically take on several hundred to 1,500 tons of coal at a time.  Several ships received as much as 2,600 tons during a coaling operation.  The Cramp shipyard designed the ship to move 1,440 tons of coal per hour, but tests revealed that the transfer of 2,400 tons of coal per hour could be achieved.  Liquid fuel transfers generally ranged from 924 gallons to 87,800 gallons depending on the size and requirements of the vessel.  The fueling operations took place day and night.  The fueling work was grueling and dangerous as was the routine operation of the coal-power Cyclops.

Typically, the round-the-clock fueling and supply work of the crew of the collier Cyclops was considered routine and went on un-noticed.  Following her support to U.S. warships during the Mexican Campaign at Vera Cruz and Tampico in 1914, the collier Cyclops took aboard hundreds of Americans who sought refuge at Tampico, Mexico.  Two such evacuations took place: Tampico to Galveston, Texas (April 23 – 26, 1914) and Tampico to New Orleans, Louisiana (May 2 – 11, 1914).  the U.S. Secretary of State Robert Lansing expressed his appreciation for humanitarian actions by the captain and crew of the collier Cyclops.

With America’s entry into World War One, the U.S.S. Cyclops was placed in commissioned on May 1, 1917 at the Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York.  The Naval Auxiliary Service officers generally received commissions in the United States Naval Reserve Force (USNRF).  The NAS enlisted complement changed to U.S. Navy enlisted.

Well-armed and fast enough to accompany the fleet, the U.S.S. Cyclops was assigned to convoy escort duty in Group 3 of the first U.S. Expeditionary Force to Saint Nazaire, France in June 1917.  In addition to transporting fuel and supplies to Saint Nazaire, she carried members of the staff of Army Base Hospital No. 18, the first hospital unit to arrive in France.

On what turned out to be her final mission, early in `1918, the U.S.S. Cyclops was ordered to travel to Brazil to obtain a special cargo.  Instead of her normal load of coal, 10,609 tons of manganese ore filled her cargo holds for her final voyage.  While in Brazil, the ship’s starboard engine failed.  Repairs were to take place upon her arrival in Baltimore.  Instead of her top speed of 14.6 knots, Captain Worley stated that his ship could make 10 knots.

Following a day’s layover at Bridgetown, Barbados the ship was last seen as she departed on the afternoon of March 4, 1918.  She never arrived at her destination.  To date, the U.S.S. Cyclops’ wreckage has not been located.  Searches for the ship or any remains have long since ceased without success.  No official cause for her disappearance and eventual loss have been resolved.  In his Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy for 1918, Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy stated, “There has been no more baffling mystery in the annals of the Navy than the disappearance last March of the U.S.S. Cyclops, Navy collier of 19,000 tons displacement, with all on board.

Lost was a total of 309 men.  This included the 15 officers and 221 enlisted men assigned to the U.S.S. Cyclops.  In addition to the crew, lost were her passengers: 6 naval officers, 64 naval enlisted men, 2 marines, and the U.S. Consul General at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

USS Cyclops on the Hudson River in 1911.

The Navy Department officially gave up the U.S.S. Cyclops as lost on April 13, 1918; however, the ship was not officially stricken from the Navy List until June 14, 1918.  In 1923, the Navy published a directory of American vessels lost during the World War. The U.S.S. Cyclops was listed with the remark, “mysteriously disappeared.”

Since then, much has been speculated regarding what may have been the circumstances of the Cyclops’ final voyage.  The ship’s logs previously documented several instances of severe rolling.  Rear Admiral David W. Taylor, Chief, Bureau of Construction and Repair stated, “From all accounts it would appear that there was no standalone cause for the loss of the collier Cyclops.  It was likely a combination of unfavorable weather and sea conditions combined with a cargo of manganese that may have been prone to shifting…”

Following the loss of the U.S.S. Cyclops, Ace Myers, engineman second class, a member of the crew on board the U.S.S. Vixen, recalled that on September 1, 1918 his ship, “patrolled south seas for U.S.S. Cyclops, the mystery of the sea.”

In 1974, divers from the salvage ship U.S.S. Opportune (ARS 41) investigated a wreck which was thought to have been the U.S.S. Cyclops.  After examination of the ship’s bell and artifacts and imagery from a remote-controlled television camera, it was determined that the wreck was not the Cyclops.[2]  Interest in the wreck found off the Virginia coast “was sparked when Dean Hawes, a retired diver, said he stood on the bow of a ship in 1969 that he thought was the Cyclops.”

In January 2017, Captain Billy Rawson, a treasure hunter based in the Dominican Republic, wrote, “We found a very large shipwreck north of Hispaniola. It sure fits the description of the Cyclops. Full of sacks of what appears to be magnesium. The ship is broken in half. If she sailed from Barbados to Baltimore she sure would have had to pass here.”  He later reported, “Unfortunately the fisherman who thought himself this was the Cyclops has been lost at sea several years now and is presumed dead.”  Artifacts retrieved from the ship including a doorknob were all of English manufacture.

Home computer access to powerful mapping tools have enabled some to digitally reach into the depth of the seas to locate the wreckages of ships.  Alan Hiatt reported this year that, through the Google Earth application, he sighted the wreckage of the Cyclops broken in two sections just as Captain Rawson previously stated.  Mr. Hiatt’s views of what could be the remains of the collier in the deepest parts of the Atlantic Ocean, while compelling, have yet to be confirmed.

The word mystery must now be removed from the saga of the U.S.S. Cyclops.  It has been more than one hundred years since her loss.  The time to know the facts concerning the loss of the 309 Americans and their ship is now.  Many families such as mine are related to men who perished with the U.S.S. Cyclops.  The 309 lost with the ship are not just numbers to us.  They have names and must be remembered.  Their stories must be told.  These were men who served their country in the United States Navy, United States Naval Reserve Force, United States Marine Corps, National Naval Volunteers, U.S. Department of State.

Exploration and search of the U.S.S. Cyclops’ wreckage must not be for the purpose of salvage. Instead, the ship’s remains must be photographed and studied with the goal of ascertaining the cause of her sinking.  That location is the gravesite of 309 Americans who gave their all during wartime.  Those who have the means to conduct such a search should step forward at this time.

Signed,
Marvin W. Barrash, great nephew of Lawrence Merkel, Fireman, Second Class, U.S.S. Cyclops

Notes:

[1] “Coal Wagons of the Sea”, by T.A. Hanes, Navy Life Magazine, p 31, November 1918, Naval Training Station, Hampton Roads, VA

[2] “In Search of CYCLOPS” by JOC Tom Streeter, U.S.N., All Hands, No. 695, pages 32-33, U.S. Navy, December 1974

Marvin W. Barrash learned about the USS Cyclops as a child in his grandparents’ shop in Baltimore, and has been researching the fate of the vessel since 1997. He is the author of three books on the USS Cyclops mystery: U.S.S. CYCLOPS, Murder on the ABARENDA, and U.S.S. CYCLOPS Volume 2. He has appeared on a number of television programs about the USS Cyclops. His previous articles on the Doughboy Foundation website can be found here and here.

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